KATHMANDU: CPN-UML Chairperson and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has issued a stern warning to party leaders, asking them not to speak in favor of former President Bidya Devi Bhandari or risk facing disciplinary action.

Speaking at the ongoing Central Committee meeting of the party that began Sunday in Chyasal, Lalitpur, Oli made his position clear: any UML member aligning with or acting as a “spokesperson” for the former president would face consequences.

According to a Central Committee member, Oli specifically pointed to certain leaders and accused them of walking around as if they were Bhandari’s representatives.

He reportedly expressed readiness to take strict action against such individuals.

Oli revealed that he held a nearly two-hour-long conversation with Bhandari on Sunday at the UML party office in Chyasal. He claimed to have offered her political suggestions but noted that she had not yet responded to them, although she promised to do so at an appropriate time.

Explaining the meeting’s location, Oli said he had invited Bhandari to the Prime Minister’s residence in Baluwatar, but she insisted on coming to the party office instead, prompting their dialogue at Chyasal.

Oli was particularly critical of senior leaders such as Ishwar Pokharel, Surendra Pandey, and Karna Bahadur Thapa—suggesting they were acting as Bhandari’s spokespeople.

“Why must some leaders act as her mouthpiece?” he asked, questioning their loyalty to the party.

He warned them not to align with the former president’s recent political undertones, emphasizing that any repetition would invite disciplinary measures.

Oli also claimed that current efforts to sideline him from the party (dubbed “Oli-mukta UML”) were more intense than previous attacks orchestrated by leaders like Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Oli asserted that such campaigns would not succeed. “There is a bigger attack now than what Prachanda and Madhav launched before. But UML will respond in unity,” he said, adding that attempts to make UML or the country “Oli-free” would be futile.